A couple of things have caught my attention over the last couple of weeks in the world of ACC football. There has been a little change in the coaching ranks, and some awards that have been handed out that I may or may not disagree with.
Virginia's hire of Mike London was the smartest move Virginia could have made. It's not a sexy name by any means, but it will be a move that will prove to be a very good one by Craig Littlepage. London had more ties to the state of Virginia as an assistant coach than Al Groh ever did as a head coach. And Virginia needs to do a better job of recruiting in the fertile Tidewater region of Virginia, and London will be able to do that. London proved at Richmond that he can flat out coach, having compiled a 24-5 record in two seasons there, plus the FCS national championship last season. Expect to see more of a running game next season with Virginia than this season.
There are probably two coaches on the hot seat going in to the 2010 season, Ralph Friedgen at Maryland, and Tom O'Brien at NC State. Friedgen's Terps went 2-10 this season, with one win being an overtime win over James Madison from the FCS, and a win against Clemson. It may be more likely that Friedgen retires rather than gets fired, but another season like this will get him fired. O'Brien has yet to finish a season above .500, and has been to one bowl game in three years. And the last two years have been with arguably one of the best quarterbacks in the conference in Russell Wilson. The problem has been the talent around him.
I was a little surprised Paul Johnson won coach of the year again this year. Personally, I would have given the award to Frank Spaziani of Boston College. I felt he did a lot more with less talent this season. In the beginning of the season, I predicted the Eagles would win three games. And they nearly tripled that, winning eight games and nearly winning the ACC Atlantic Division. The Eagles weren't pretty at times, but they somehow got the job done. Montel Harris was a big reason why the Eagles won eight games, rushing for 1355 yards and 13 TDs.
If Clemson would have finished with a better record, then C.J. Spiller would undoubtedly have been a Heisman trophy candidate. He was arguably the best all around player in the country. He ran for 11 touchdowns, he caught four touchdowns, he threw one touchdown, and scored five touchdowns on special teams. He even had two tackles on the year too. This is my kind of football player. You can ask him to do something, and he will do it.
